I would say that it’s not been a great couple of weeks for the Brenda (nee Braithwaite) Romero / Tom Hall / John Romero gang. The Old School RPG Kickstarter was closed early once it appeared that its curiously vague pitch wasn’t resonating with as many folk as hoped, and now the Romeros’ Ubisoft-published Facebook game Ghost Recon Commander has had the plugged pulled after mere weeks. However, the Romeros got married yesterday (in Disneyland, no less), so hopefully it’s actually been a great couple of weeks for them despite all this. (more…)

Amidst the eardrum-bursting din of day-to-day existence, it’s easy to lose track of the little things. The important things. For instance, when was the last time you tossed your schedule in the wastebasket, picked up the phone, and called Agent 47 voice actor David Bateson to tell him how much you appreciate the tremendous role he’s played in your life? His vocal stylings are the perfect mixture of gruff, foreboding, and silky smooth – a beautifully layered sandwich of sound that often goes under-appreciated. But Hitman: Subtitle has many noises. Let them enter your sound-intake orifice after the break.

Viking: Battle for Asgard has been available on the Xbox for over four years now. Which of course means the game can be defined as a ‘classic’. As such, it recently qualified for PC port status. I can tell you’re pleased by this turn of events. Your cackle becomes a lot throatier when you’re pleased. You sort of laugh through your phlegm. It’s adorable. But does this saga from Sega live up to its illustrious name? Read on to find out Wot I Think. > (more…)

Last week, as some may have noticed, Robert Florence wrote a piece for Eurogamer, criticising the appearance of corruption amongst some in the gaming press. Stressing that he believes the vast majority of writers are good and honest, he pointed out – inspired by an image of Spike’s Geoff Keighley sat surrounded by Doritos and Mountain Dew – that writers could do a lot more to put themselves above suspicion.

In doing so, he mentioned by name other games journalists who that morning had been on Twitter defending a dubious competition held for journalists attending the Games Media Awards. In particular he pointed out how Dave Cook had told me – as it happens – to get off my pedestal in criticising the competition. And Lauren Wainwright (employee of Intent Media, organisers of the GMAs) who had most vociferously been defending the competition, while, he observed, tweeting from a Twitter homepage so decorated in Tomb Raider images that it could be mistaken for a Tomb Raider advert. Wainwright, a self-confessed Tomb Raider fan, strongly objected to this, and issued a legal threat to Eurogamer to have the article changed. And then all hell broke loose.

Are dinosaurs the new zombies? Could they end up becoming our next guiltless gun target du jour? Between Dino D-Day, Orion: Dino Beatdown, and now Primal Carnage, pre-history’s least lovable lizards have recently found themselves in our crosshairs more than, well, ever – largely because crosshairs didn’t exist back when they weren’t asteroid dust. Problem is, no one’s really figured out how exactly to make this brand of incredibly asymmetrical combat shine> just yet. So then, can Primal Carnage soar where others have flapped helplessly with their tiny T-Rex arms and fallen off a cliff? Let’s find out. Let’s find out together>.

Hm. Here’s something that’s leaped out of nowhere, descended upon us in a flash of bloodlust, and knocked us flat in much the same fashion as an enraged koala or, more pertinently, an assassin. Assassin’s Creed III is not by any means a F2P game, but it’ll still have a (seemingly entirely optional) pay structure just like one. Granted, that in itself isn’t really a problem. It’s this bit, however, that has me worried: “disregarding your current level.” To which I reply: but, but, but, but, but competitive> multiplayer.

Yes, as we’d been anticipating, Mechwarrior Online is now in open beta, which means it can be played for free, without restriction. I’ve been enjoying it a fair bit in the past couple of weeks, but then I am a sucker for both robots and multiplayer combat, so it could pretty much have been designed with me in mind. I would say that it hasn’t exactly held my attention for long periods – unlike Planetside 2, for example – so it’s lacking something in the long-term reward sense. It also offers a fascinating contrast with Hawken, the faster-paced, jetpack-heavy robo-deathmatcher that’s in closed beta right now (but should soon hit for free).

These are sad times we live in. The typing game is a dying form, as evidenced by the fact that Typing of the Dead never got a million sequels or infected other zombie-centric franchises with its admirable linguistic prowess. But there is hope for the clumsy fingered among you. Musical> hope>. Typing Karaoke is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: well-known hits from the decades of yore play, and you type furiously to just barely keep up. It ends up being an oddly arrhythmic experience, but it’s still a fun (and technically educational!) timewaster.

This year as with every year, there is a brand new edition of Sports Interactive’s management goliath Foot-to-Ball Commander. The 2013 version is out next week, in fact. New features this year include over 17 new types of decomposing tobacco breath odorants to add to your manager’s Unhinged Bellow attack, the option to hurl the most racist members of your premiership team into the heart of the sun and the exclusive Gary Lineker’s Leaving Your Wife Of 20 To Shack Up With An Underwear Model Time Attack mode.